Car travel with a Labrador

[LabLife8]

We have a quickly growing lab puppy, currently 4/5 months.

What do you use to keep your labs safe and comfortable during a car journey when you don’t have other passengers to hold them and/or have a boot full of stuff? Trying to
work out what to do in every scenario as we haven’t found what works yet.

And we are considering a long journey to see family for Christmas. What are your thoughts / what’s your advice re a 500+ mile journey with 7/8mth old puppy and 2 kids (who should be old enough to tolerate a long car journey)

I personally wouldn't go on such a long trip with a young dog even with lots of stops it might still be a stressful carry on for everyone.

Regarding everyday travel our dog goes in a material type travel crate in the boot or in another car just in the boot with a guard up. Any boot items like shopping just stick on the back seat. Even with restraints they don't seem to settle as well on the seats ime.

I've got a very tall Labrador cross. I've got a seat belt in the backseat which attaches to his harness and a seat cover which goes over the footwells, like this.

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1257110024/car-rear-back-seat-cover-pet-dog-auto?click_key=aa03208c728a06c9716f6995899868bc7dbc4d20%3A1257110024&click_sum=6d84e989&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=dog+car+mat&ref=sr_gallery-1-4&frs=1&sts=1

We're going away soon in the car (3 passengers) so I'll just fold in it half so someone else can sit in the back.

Ours used to settle in the footwell in the back seat. This was a long time ago before they had to be restrained.
It’s a good idea to train them to pee on command so when you take them for a walk at the services they wee quickly and you can carry on. We have always found long journeys with labs fine. As long as they are with you they’re happy.

By law, dogs have to be restrained in the car. The safest place is in a crate, in the boot if possible. The other option is on the back seats with a seatbelt attached to their harness. Don't put them in the footwell as they'll be crushed in an accident.

However, assuming you have a five seater car, I don't think you can safely fit an adolescent Labrador as well as two children on the back seat. I dog walk and the labs take up the entire back seat of my car by themselves

I wouldn’t go that far with a 7 month old puppy and would arrange for boarding instead.

However I just use harnesses and a clip into the seatbelt

Good luck fitting everything in, unless you’ve got a massive car/roof box!
When just us two go away with the dog, she goes in the boot behind a dog guard, and we put luggage on the back seat. We are always packed to the rafters so no way we could fit two kids and Xmas presents in as well.
For the dog we also have to take a bed/big bag of food, takes up a lot of space.

Crate in the boot for the dog
Roof box for luggage when you go away.

Of course it is fine to travel that distance with a 7 month old puppy!

Make sure you have wee breaks and a bit of a walk before hand and they will sleep most of the way.

I would not have a labrador in the back seat in the case of an accident a lab will cause injury to those in the cab of the car.

Safest is in the boot in a crash tested crate

I have to say I'm surprised at all the people saying it's too far to travel with a puppy.

We took ours to Scotland when he was a similar age - about a four hour drive each way and he was absolutely fine. He slept pretty much the whole time and didn't have any accidents. We stopped twice (I think), took him for a little walk and he just did his business on the grass.

He had a walk before we set off as well which probably helped.

We've just come back from Scotland with our 5 month old lab (5.5 hours). Not an issue journey length wise, we had one stop. We've done several 2 hour journeys beforehand so know she travels fine.

However, no children here so we have two labs in the boot and luggage on the back seat.

What sort of car do you have? If you have a fairly large boot you may be able to get a divider so lab can have half the boot and you can put luggage in the other half. Otherwise you probably need a roof box. I don't think you'd be able to fit the lab safely on the back seat with two children.

Ours travels on the backseat wearing a harness that clips onto a dog seatbelt which goes around the headrest of one of the seats.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NCPNP13/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

13 month xl bully here. He goes in the boot no bother

What about a top box or bag (not for the dog!) as presumably this will always be a problem?

Ours have always travelled behind a dog guard. They have all been excellent in the car, even driving the length and breadth of the park at six months old.